Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has requested that the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement be deferred by a week to 28 October 2020.
It was originally tentatively scheduled for 21 October.
"The Speaker of the National Assembly Ms Thandi Modise has received a request from the Minister of Finance Mr Tito Mboweni for an alternate date of Wednesday, 28 October 2020 for the Tabling of the 2020 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement," read a statement from Parliament. "In his correspondence to the Speaker, Minister Mboweni highlights the recent complex decisions taken by cabinet in respect of the 2020/21 adjusted estimates and the 2021 MTEF, as well as the implications of the time frames for the finalisation of Government’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery plan on the budget process as reasons necessitating the proposed rescheduling."
The National Assembly Programming Committee had last week agreed to the fourth term's draft parliamentary programme, which included the scheduled tabling of the mini budget late in October. At the time, Treasury said 21 October was the "tentative" date.
The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, which lays out government's priorities over the next three years, has been expected to be impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The supplementary budget, tabled in June, already saw Finance Minister Tito Mboweni warning that the country faced a sovereign debt crisis if economic growth continued to stagnate.
He added that the country's budget deficit was expected to increase to 14.6% of GDP, a major increase from February's projection of 6.8%.